With a $130,000 design grant in hand, National City officials hope construction to fill a 2,400-foot-long gap in a bike path along Plaza Bonita Road isn’t far behind.

The city applied for the Transportation Development Act/TransNet Bicycle and Pedestrian Projects grant for the design of the Sweetwater River Bike Path Gap Closure project in May.

Funding was approved in June, and the City Council last week approved a grant agreement with the San Diego Association of Governments, which allocates the money.

“There was a connection, but we wanted to make it a continuous Class I bike path,” said Maryam Babaki, National City’s development services director. “Class I bike paths are obviously a lot safer.”

Bicyclists on the Sweetwater River Bikeway Class I path must cross Plaza Bonita Road twice to get back to a Class I path at Bonita Mesa Road. With the gap filled, it will be a Class I path the entire route.

“This grant is exciting news,” county Supervisor Greg Cox said. “For years, I’ve been personally leading an effort to create the Bayshore Bikeway, a 24-mile bicycle route going completely around San Diego Bay. The completion of this missing segment of the Sweetwater River bikeway would give people access to the Bayshore Bikeway.”

County officials contributed $100,000 in late 2008 to complete a study for the Sweetwater River Bikeway connection. SANDAG, city and county officials will pursue the estimated $1.2 million needed to complete construction.

The city plans to create the design for an 8-foot-wide, protected bike path along the west side of Plaza Bonita Road, between Westfield Plaza Bonita and the adjacent Sweetwater River flood-control channel.

The project will remove an existing bike lane along the east side of Plaza Bonita Road and shift the road east. The project will add up to 34 on-street parallel parking spaces along the east side of the roadway.

Where the Class I bike path picks up at Bonita Mesa Road, waist-high metal railing protects bicyclists from vehicles driving on Plaza Bonita Road, which has a speed limit of 45 mph. Babaki said the city will decide whether to add similar railing once engineers begin designing the bike path. She said there will be a 5-foot buffer as required for added protection on the Class I bike path.

In applying for the grant, city officials noted two accidents along the Plaza Bonita Road project area that were “correctable.” City officials said the project would enhance the roadway to better guide pedestrians and bicyclists “to improved crossing locations.”

Babaki said she hopes to have a design completed within five months. She said the city will work out the details for the gap, from Bonita Mesa Road north to the existing Sweetwater River Bikeway.

“This is for bicyclists, but not just for professionals,” Babaki said.